Bold Ventures

Thirteen Tales of Architectural Tragedy

Bold Ventures
David McKay, Charlotte Van den Broeck
RRP:
NZ$ 40.00
Our Price:
NZ$ 32.00
Hardback
h222 x 138mm - 304pg
5 May 2022 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781784743987
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
A sensation in the Flemish world- a spellbinding new talent explores the dark side of creativity through the stories of thirteen tragic architectsA spellbinding new talent explores the dark side of creativity through the stories of thirteen tragic architects' What a sensible, intelligent and beautiful book' Stefan Hertmans, author of War and TurpentineIn thirteen chapters, Belgian poet Charlotte Van den Broeck goes in search of buildings that were fatal for their architects - architects who either killed themselves or are rumoured to have done so. They range across time and space from a church with a twisted spire built in seventeenth-century France to a theatre that collapsed mid-performance in 1920s Washington, DC. , and an eerily sinking swimming pool in her hometown of Turnhout. Drawing on a vast range of material, from Hegel and Charles Darwin to art history, stories from her own life and popular culture, patterns gradually come into focus, as Van den Broeck asks- what is that strange life-or-death connection between a creation and its creator? Threaded through each story, and in prose of great essayistic subtlety, Van den Broeck meditates on the question of suicide - what Albert Camus called the ' one truly serious philosophical problem' - in relation to creativity and public disgrace. The result is a profoundly idiosyncratic book, breaking new ground in literary non-fiction, as well as providing solace and consolation - and a note of caution - to anyone who has ever risked their hand at a creative act.
What a sensible, intelligent and beautiful book -- Stefan Hertmans, author of War and Turpentine A darkly comic meditation on the nature of creativity and the narrow margins between triumph and despair. Part memoir, part travelogue and part reflection, this unique and hugely engaging book takes a fresh look at the tragicomic condition of being human -- Carolyn Steel, author of Sitopia While going on essayistic quests that take her around the globe, Van den Broeck traces stories of self-complacency, fear of failure and destiny. Indirectly, she researches the link between building and writing. Isn' t every author bold by default, after all? In Bold Ventures she lives up to her ambition * De Morgen * Van den Broeck has a very keen eye. But she also has a great mind, making transitions between philosophical contemplations and journalistic passages seem effortless * De Standaard *
Charlotte Van den Broeck (Author) Charlotte Van den Broeck (born in 1991) is a Belgian author. Her first collection of poetry, Chameleon (2015), was awarded the Herman de Coninck Debut Prize. Nachtroer (2017) won the triennial Paul Snoek Prize for the best collection of Dutch-language poems. David Colmer' s English translation of these two collections was published as a single volume by Bloodaxe Books in 2020. In 2019 she published her prose debut Waagstukken (Bold Ventures). The book was a Dutch bestseller, won the Confituur Boekhandels Prize, the Dr Wijnaendts Francken Prize and was shortlisted for the Boekenbon Literature Prize and the Jan Hanlo Essay Prize. Her third collection of poems, Earth Rubbings, was published in Dutch in 2021.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781784743987
Published: 5 May 2022
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Chatto & Windus
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Hardback
Height: 222mm
Width: 138mm
Spine: 30mm
Weight: 350g
Pages: 304

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